Lydia Penner

"Hi! I am Lydia Penner and I am a retired elementary school teacher and I’m a writer. I just completed the 30 Day Posture Reset but before that I did the 90 Day Challenge - second time around for that one.

The specific challenges that I wanted to address were that I have issues with my wrists. Im 61 so I have a little bit of stiffness setting in and I love to do calligraphy. Two years ago I had to get a cortisone shot because I was getting tenosynovitis and it was acting up again. So that was one area that I definitely wanted to work at. Probably the biggest one would be an issue with headaches that I’ve had for pretty much all my adult life. These issues interfered with my daily life specifically with teaching - this is going back a few years because I retired in 2016. I had been a teacher for 25 years and throughout my entire career had struggled with headaches. It would always be an issue of waking up at 4 in the morning and battling with whether or not to take meds today or if I should even go in. Teachers are usually pretty heroic and they go in despite a lot of things. So I went in most of the time. Over the years I tried probably - I made a list once - I tried over 30 different things to try and cure myself of headaches. Spent a ton of money on all of these kind of efforts at curing myself. In the end I actually left teaching on a medical leave 2 years before I was going to retire. Just because it wasn’t working out anymore and wasn’t sustainable with my headaches.

I would say that the wrist issue that I mentioned earlier - part of the 90 Day Challenge happened during Christmas and I was making hand-made Christmas cards with calligraphy. I would not have been able to do those cards without doing the Blocking on my hands and wrists and arms. So that was a huge lifesaver. Even now whenever it starts acting up I know I can focus on that for a few classes and it will really help a lot. It really, really helped my headaches. Even before the 90 Day Challenge, I can’t say enough how much Blocking has helped. I can wake up with a headache that formerly I would have taken meds for and if I just do a bit of Blocking on my head it can go from an 8 out of 10 to a 1 out of 10. My main goal now is that I don’t want to take meds anymore and Blocking definitely helps with that.

There is one issue that I actually didn’t mention yet which is anxiety. I think whenever you are dealing with a chronic condition such as headaches, there can be a lot of anxiety. I know for sure that I have struggled with that probably all my life without even knowing it. It lessens my anxiety. If I have a really difficult day I know for sure I am calmer after I Block. I have to do it again the next day to keep it going but its a sure fire path for me to keep that under control.

One of the biggest things that I love about it - I just love being able to do it at home. I think that that is one of the strengths that it has. Particularly during the pandemic. But it suits me just fine. 

If I hadn’t found Block Therapy I’d probably be needing another cortisone shot for my wrist. I might have gone back to taking meds for my headaches although I really wouldn’t have wanted to. I’d be more anxious. There were a few different issues that I went through over the last 2 years and Blocking was really invaluable to get through that. To just find a space for myself where I could practice that deep breathing and calming down and deep focusing. Yea, maybe I’d be in intense therapy without it I don’t know. 

What makes Block Therapy different from other modalities that I have tried - it may sound funny to say it - I would say Block Therapy is a lot less expensive when I think of the thousands of dollars that I have spent on alternate therapies. I think Block Therapy is just so affordable and so worth it. I like that I don’t have to scurry around to all different kinds of practitioners. I was going to acupuncture and physiotherapy and the chiropractor. Not that those things aren’t helpful to people, I don’t discount that. But for me I have really been able to downsize all the other things I need to do. I can take my health into my own hands basically. That to me make so much sense to be able to take your health into your own hands and say - maybe there is something that I can do here for myself. Guided by somebody of course. I think that a lot of times we get these diagnoses from people and we think, oh well I guess thats it then. I have to cope with this the best that I can. I realized there are ways that I can address my health more practically than I used to think was possible. I really wish I had known this all those years that I was teaching. It would have helped me so much

If someone is on the fence about whether or not to start Block Therapy I would talk about how it has helped me. I would say that I totally understand that it seems like a weird thing to do - to lay on a piece of wood. I realize how crazy that sounds. I would acknowledge that to people. And I would say that had I not experienced its benefits that I would have felt the same way. I would also explain my journey with Block Therapy, how I discovered that it was helping me even before I discovered Block Therapy. I saw a newspaper article in the Winnipeg Free Press about Blocking and realized that thats what I had been doing. To help my headaches I had been pressing the back of my head into the floor in the mornings and that had been helping - what I understand now - to release the fascia on my head. So I would say how much it has helped me. I would also advise people to look on the website about testimonials that other people have given. When you hear the stories about how other people have been helped I think it speaks for itself. You just have to get past that bafflement of how can that really help you. So far I have been able to start my husband on it. I am working on other people too but we will see how they do. "

~ Lydia Penner